Martina Michèle "Tina" Weymouth (born November 22, 1950) is an American musician, best known as a founding member and bassist of the new wave group Talking Heads and its side project Tom Tom Club, which she co-founded with husband and Talking Heads drummer Chris Frantz.

Contents

Profile[edit]

Born in Coronado, California, Weymouth is of French heritage on her mother's side (she is the great-granddaughter of Anatole Le Braz, a Breton writer).[1][2] She was a cheerleader in high school. As a bass guitarist, she combined the minimalist art-punk bass lines of groups such as Wire and Pere Ubu with danceable, funk-inflected riffs to provide the bedrock of Talking Heads signature sound. Her sound is often very syncopated (i.e. reggae/funk) in feel, combining low fundamental notes with higher flourishes in clipped, staccato rhythms. She joined Talking Heads as bass guitarist at the request of then-boyfriend, Chris Frantz.

Life outside Talking Heads[edit]

Weymouth on bass, Toronto, May 13, 1978

Full members of the Compass Point All Stars, Weymouth and Frantz formed the Tom Tom Club in 1980, which kept them busy during a fairly long hiatus in Talking Heads activity. When it became obvious that Talking Heads frontman David Byrne had no interest in another Talking Heads album, Weymouth, Frantz, and Jerry Harrison reunited without him for a single album called No Talking, Just Head under the name "The Heads" in 1996, featuring a rotating cast of vocalists. Weymouth has been critical of Byrne, describing him as "a man incapable of returning friendship."[3]

References[edit]

^Bowman, David (2001). This Must Be the Place: The Adventures of Talking Heads in the 20th Century. New York: HarperCollins. p. 10. ISBN978-0-380-97846-5.

^Guy Blackman (February 6, 2005). "Byrning down the house". The Age. Retrieved 2007-06-01. In March, 2007, Weymouth described Byrne as "a man incapable of returning friendship". She told Glasgow's Sunday Herald: "Cutting off attachments when a thing/person is perceived to have served its purpose or there is a perceived threat to ego is the lifelong pattern of his relations".